Sympathy, Understanding ? This Swine Deserves Nought

James Taranto was on a roll tonight. I hope people can wake up to what we are facing in a very real reality. This is a religious war by their choosing, submit or die is their mantra. I would offer Serge Trifkovic's "The Sword of the Prophecy" or anything by Dr. Spencer at www.Jihadwatch.org . They want to kill us or rule us as slaves or converts, that is why they want to kill us. I hear their words and the words of Patrick Henry echo tirelessly in my brain; "What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!"

BY JAMES TARANTO

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 3:35 p.m. EDT
Why Do They Hate Us?

That's the question we've all grown sick and tired of hearing since Sept. 11, 2001. It's not that the query is inherently objectionable; understanding what motivates the enemy is obviously helpful in wartime. But the people who ask this question almost never genuinely seek to understand; rather, they have their own axes to grind against the U.S. or the West, and seek to use the prospect of terror attacks to scare the rest of us into supporting their views. This we have dubbed vicarious terrorism.
Now and then a terrorist actually takes the trouble to explain his motives. London's Daily Telegraph reports on the trial of the man who allegedly (and now confessedly) murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh:

Mohammed Bouyeri, a baby-faced 27-year-old with dual Dutch-Moroccan nationality, broke his vow not to co-operate with the Amsterdam court by admitting shooting and stabbing his victim last November.
"I take complete responsibility for my actions. I acted purely in the name of my religion," he told its three-strong panel of judges.
"I can assure you that one day, should I be set free, I would do the same, exactly the same." . . .
Bouyeri then turned to the victim's mother, Anneke, in the public gallery, and told her he felt nothing for her. Mrs van Gogh watched as he read out from what appeared to be a statement: "I don't feel your pain. I have to admit that I don't have any sympathy for you. I can't feel for you because you're a non-believer."
This had nothing to do with Israeli "occupation" of "Palestinian lands,"

America's "unilateral invasion" of Iraq, "torture" of prisoners at Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib, the widening "income gap," or any of the other litany of complaints that the terror apologists trot out. Islamist terrorism arises from religious fanaticism and hatred, plain and simple.

Tag: I agree, while you are there read Claudia Rosette's piece on al -quaeda and Saddam's Iraq.